Double murder suspects go to trial

After nearly a year of investigations and court proceedings, two young men charged in the murder of two Pontiac women will appear for jury trial in Oakland County Circuit Court.

A final pretrial was held Wednesday in the year-long case, said Oakland County Prosecutor Jessica Cooper.

"It looks like it's going to go to trial," she said.

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The men are scheduled to appear in court Jan. 28 for the double homicide.

Semaj Moran, 16, is charged with two counts of felony murder and two counts of first-degree premeditated murder in the early-2012 shooting deaths of Loretta Culpepper Fournier and Luann Robinson. If convicted, he faces life in prison without the possibility of parole. He was 15 at the time of the slaying.

Howard Arnold, 22, is charged with one count of first-degree felony murder and one count of first-degree home invasion. Both men are from Pontiac.

During an August 2012 evidentiary hearing, prosecutors and audience members listened to Pontiac deputies' interviews with Moran, who said Howard "... told me to shoot her. I couldn't believe it was happening."

In the interview with deputies, Moran said he was at the women's house on Feb. 17 with Arnold smoking marijuana at the kitchen table when an argument started between Fournier and Arnold over a $30 drug deal. Arnold thought a $20 bill and $10 bill Fournier had given to him were counterfeit.

At the August hearing in front of Judge Denise Langford Morris, Moran's attorney, William Mitchell, said there was a question as to whether the interviews were voluntary, and whether the juvenile's mother was informed he was waiving his Miranda rights.